1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved system for gathering and entering data for use in tracking and managing assets in a complex, diverse enterprise, and more particularly, to a system that gathers and links data down to the least repairable/replaceable units in a system and within and across enterprise boundaries.
Large enterprises such as multi-national corporations, government agencies, and even smaller organizations having an affinity to other organizations with similar operating assets, have a barrier to easily tracking the performance of complex operating assets over time. These assets are typically composed of components produced by independent suppliers to comprise subsystems which in turn are combined to perform as a large system. The performance of the large system is dependent upon the reliability of each subsystem which, in turn, is dependent upon the reliability of components. Examples of complex systems would include telecommunications and air traffic control systems. To manage assets in such a complex environment, data is needed to identify not only where the components are, but also where they came from, how they got there, and what has been done through their service life and is being done to them.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, code labels (e.g. bar code labels, radio frequency (rf) labels and static discharge chip labels) have been used in the prior art in connection with asset tracking. These prior art systems, while generally satisfactory, do not conceptually address the entire problem with the vision necessary to systematically and reliably capture the data required to track and manage assets, particularly relational data that enables problem analysis, revision, and repair of assets in a diverse, complex enterprise.